Can't say I'm surprised at all. I pay an ever increasing amount for an ever decreasing amount of compelling content where you're lucky if you get 20 minutes out of a 30 minute show once you account for all the commercials. I'd say if subscription TV wants to slow this downward slide, more of them incorporate the cutting down of ads as some networks have.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has been a national economic indicator for almost 25 years. It measures and analyzes customer satisfaction with more than 380 companies in 46 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies. Reported on a scale of 0 to 100, ACSI scores are based on data from interviews with roughly 250,000 customers annually. For more information, visit www.theacsi.org.

There is no reason other than greed for me to have to watch ads. Cable TV is expensive and a hassle. Hell they cut into movie content to deliver ads. Fuck everything about that. I don't mind paying but do not give me a shit experience for a lot of money.

I don't watch tv much, and if something on tv is worth the time, i dvr and watch it later , fast forwarding thru commercials. Content quality overall is shit on network tv/cable though. How many shows do we need about doctors/lawyers/cops?

Several reasons why cable sucks compared to streaming (at least where I live):
-Poor picture quality. I have to pay extra for HD channels.
-Commercials. Dear god, there are more now than I can stand.
-Have to wait until the show broadcasts? What?
-Expensive. Price keeps going up.

Benefits of streaming:
-Better picture quality. I get 1080p and some stuff is 4k.
-I can watch what I want, when I want. Will admit there is still not much on sometimes...
-Price is much lower than cable.
-I can download a lot of content (legally) and watch it on the bus.
-Easy to quit my subscription. I don't have to talk to anyone.

I don't watch tv much, and if something on tv is worth the time, i dvr and watch it later , fast forwarding thru commercials. Content quality overall is shit on network tv/cable though. How many shows do we need about doctors/lawyers/cops?

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cost/profit ratio is high on doctor/lawyer/cop shows that's why.. notice how anything that requires a decent budget to produce always gets cancelled even though the ratings are still good (cough The Expanse cough).

About the only things I can complain about is fragmentation, coupled with bad UI. Amazon's UI is horrible imo, no 10/20/30/chapter skip options that I am aware of (on my device) etc. FF/RW is so old skool.

Several reasons why cable sucks compared to streaming (at least where I live):
-Poor picture quality. I have to pay extra for HD channels.
-Commercials. Dear god, there are more now than I can stand.
-Have to wait until the show broadcasts? What?
-Expensive. Price keeps going up.

Benefits of streaming:
-Better picture quality. I get 1080p and some stuff is 4k.
-I can watch what I want, when I want. Will admit there is still not much on sometimes...
-Price is much lower than cable.
-I can download a lot of content (legally) and watch it on the bus.
-Easy to quit my subscription. I don't have to talk to anyone.

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I can't speak to other Cable companies, but with mine I never watch anything on live tv unless I am channel surfing for background noise while working. I always watch things on demand or off my DVR. Its not 4k yet, but most programs are 1080p now. (Cox in Arizona) I still do subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime though (mainly for the shipping benefits)

About the only things I can complain about is fragmentation, coupled with bad UI. Amazon's UI is horrible imo, no 10/20/30/chapter skip options that I am aware of (on my device) etc. FF/RW is so old skool.

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yeah i can't stand amazon's UI, still feels like they're stuck in the 90's while Netflix's UI is perfect even when watching through roku(and my comcast x1 box before that) on my tv.

I don't watch tv much, and if something on tv is worth the time, i dvr and watch it later , fast forwarding thru commercials. Content quality overall is shit on network tv/cable though. How many shows do we need about doctors/lawyers/cops?

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Ever notice how most nights you can scroll though all 200+ channels and there is nothing worth watching, yet the 4 shows your family likes to watch all come on at the same time on the same night?

My cable/internet provider (COX) raised their prices by $13 in April. Didn't call to complain since I still had the bundle and long term customer discounts.
However, this month the price went up another $15, because they dropped the long term customer discount.
Great way to treat your long term customers.

Funny how they raise the internet price, and then a month later send out an email saying they are increasing the speed for free.
I was fine with the 50mbit speed I had. I'd rather have discount on my service instead of a speed bump to 100mbit.

I'm going to call them and give them one chance to put the $15 discount back on my account. I'm sick of having to argue with them every year to get a decent price.
If they don't want to give me the discount back, then I will be canceling the TV portion of my cable bill (already cancel the phone 2 years ago), and switching to only the internet since they are the only service option I have.

I can get Dish network, with all the same channels the family wants for significantly less, plus I don't have to worry about them increasing the price for 2 years.
They even include a DRV (good enough) or I can upgrade to the 16 tuner (overkill) one and still pay less than my current cable company.

With Dish I don't have to worry about exceeding the cap on my internet data, even if the wife leaves the TV on all day.
Once my kid's in college next year, I might even look into going with a lower internet speed just so I can pay them less money

Cox now wants $166 for TV (140 channels) & Internet (100mbit), even with the $15 bundle discount I still have.
Meanwhile, if I was a new customer, I could get the same services for $75, with a guaranteed price for 1 year

Cox now wants $166 for TV (140 channels) & Internet (100mbit), even with the $15 bundle discount I still have.
Meanwhile, if I was a new customer, I could get the same services for $75, with a guaranteed price for 1 year

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You would have local channels only and preferred 100 internet with Cox as a new customer for that price point.

Ever notice how most nights you can scroll though all 200+ channels and there is nothing worth watching, yet the 4 shows your family likes to watch all come on at the same time on the same night?

My cable/internet provider (COX) raised their prices by $13 in April. Didn't call to complain since I still had the bundle and long term customer discounts.
However, this month the price went up another $15, because they dropped the long term customer discount.
Great way to treat your long term customers.

Funny how they raise the internet price, and then a month later send out an email saying they are increasing the speed for free.
I was fine with the 50mbit speed I had. I'd rather have discount on my service instead of a speed bump to 100mbit.

I'm going to call them and give them one chance to put the $15 discount back on my account. I'm sick of having to argue with them every year to get a decent price.
If they don't want to give me the discount back, then I will be canceling the TV portion of my cable bill (already cancel the phone 2 years ago), and switching to only the internet since they are the only service option I have.

I can get Dish network, with all the same channels the family wants for significantly less, plus I don't have to worry about them increasing the price for 2 years.
They even include a DRV (good enough) or I can upgrade to the 16 tuner (overkill) one and still pay less than my current cable company.

With Dish I don't have to worry about exceeding the cap on my internet data, even if the wife leaves the TV on all day.
Once my kid's in college next year, I might even look into going with a lower internet speed just so I can pay them less money

Cox now wants $166 for TV (140 channels) & Internet (100mbit), even with the $15 bundle discount I still have.
Meanwhile, if I was a new customer, I could get the same services for $75, with a guaranteed price for 1 year

Click to expand...

jesus even i pay less than that for 250mbit +240 channels with comcast.. didn't know cox was getting that bad.

Ever notice how most nights you can scroll though all 200+ channels and there is nothing worth watching, yet the 4 shows your family likes to watch all come on at the same time on the same night?

My cable/internet provider (COX) raised their prices by $13 in April. Didn't call to complain since I still had the bundle and long term customer discounts.
However, this month the price went up another $15, because they dropped the long term customer discount.
Great way to treat your long term customers.

Funny how they raise the internet price, and then a month later send out an email saying they are increasing the speed for free.
I was fine with the 50mbit speed I had. I'd rather have discount on my service instead of a speed bump to 100mbit.

I'm going to call them and give them one chance to put the $15 discount back on my account. I'm sick of having to argue with them every year to get a decent price.
If they don't want to give me the discount back, then I will be canceling the TV portion of my cable bill (already cancel the phone 2 years ago), and switching to only the internet since they are the only service option I have.

I can get Dish network, with all the same channels the family wants for significantly less, plus I don't have to worry about them increasing the price for 2 years.
They even include a DRV (good enough) or I can upgrade to the 16 tuner (overkill) one and still pay less than my current cable company.

With Dish I don't have to worry about exceeding the cap on my internet data, even if the wife leaves the TV on all day.
Once my kid's in college next year, I might even look into going with a lower internet speed just so I can pay them less money

Cox now wants $166 for TV (140 channels) & Internet (100mbit), even with the $15 bundle discount I still have.
Meanwhile, if I was a new customer, I could get the same services for $75, with a guaranteed price for 1 year

Click to expand...

I used to sell Dish and Direct for extra cash on the weekends at home and garden shows. Be careful if you go satellite. Yes the picture quality is better than cable, but after the contract their rates jump up A LOT and continue to rise every year. You absolutely Must switch services every 3 years or you end up paying out the nose like cable.

There is SOOOO much I could say on this subject. I "cut the cord" once and for all last year. I was paying over $180/mo. for cable, phone (which I never used, AT ALL!), and internet. I had all of the "standard" cable channels, no premiums like HBO, either. I had all of the non-premium HD channels and an "X1" HD DVR with 2 "slave" boxes for the bedrooms. And I had their Xfinity provided cable modem/router.

The final straw was, when I was surfing desperately for SOMETHING to watch, I saw "Independence Day" on TNT. I tuned in during a commercial break. Sat through 4 tedious commercials, then the movie started back up...it was the part where the shadow of the alien mothership was crossing the Washington Monument...and suddenly, static and wavy lines appeared. The picture fuzzed out to be replaced BY AN ADVERTISEMENT for TNT's show "The Dig"! It lasted about 5 seconds, then the static effect came back and the movie continued. THAT WAS THE F***ING LAST STRAW! Not only do we have to watch an HOUR of ads to view a 2 hour movie these days, but we now get ads spliced into the movie itself???? IMMEDIATELY AFTER A "regular" COMMERCIAL BREAK???? And we PAY for this shit????

I was already paying for Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime in addition to cable...and it made my decision VERY easy! I walked into their store with their modem (since replaced by my own gear), the DVR and the two other boxes, plopped it down on the counter and said that I flat out REFUSE to pay to be advertised to! They can choose ONE...either charge me for content, AD FREE...or advertise to me in exchange for the programming, NOT BOTH! YOU DONT GET TO HAVE IT BOTH WAYS ANYMORE!

In the past year, I have almost completely eliminated my exposure to advertising, save for the internet. AND IT FEELS GREAT! I no longer have strange cravings for weird pharmaceuticals...I dont HAVE to eat at Arby's anymore, and I don't feel the urge to get a new car! In all seriousness, I don't miss the experience of traditional cable AT ALL. I can watch all of the shows I care about, and will even purchase season passes for shows not on the "big 3" streaming services. (The Expanse and Legion so far this year) It's still FAR cheaper than subscribing to cable! Now I pay $75/mo for "plus" speed internet (100mbps). $12/mo for Netflix, and another $12 for Hulu, plus Amazon, which I would pay for even without their streaming video. I save $80/mo vs. what I paid before, even WITH the additional streaming subscriptions!

I am PISSED, by the way, that the "free" speed boosts ONLY apply to TV customers! Comcast keeps reminding us all that we are at their mercy, and they can do whatever the hell they want right now, because they are the only game in town. The MOMENT a competitive service is available in my area, I am leaving Xfinity/Comcast for good!

I used to sell Dish and Direct for extra cash on the weekends at home and garden shows. Be careful if you go satellite. Yes the picture quality is better than cable, but after the contract their rates jump up A LOT and continue to rise every year. You absolutely Must switch services every 3 years or you end up paying out the nose like cable.

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Already plan than.
If after 2 years, Dish ups their rate and won't give me a discount, I'll just drop them and switch to a streaming service or even back to COX if they want me back bad enough.

Several reasons why cable sucks compared to streaming (at least where I live):
-Poor picture quality. I have to pay extra for HD channels.
-Commercials. Dear god, there are more now than I can stand.
-Have to wait until the show broadcasts? What?
-Expensive. Price keeps going up.

Benefits of streaming:
-Better picture quality. I get 1080p and some stuff is 4k.
-I can watch what I want, when I want. Will admit there is still not much on sometimes...
-Price is much lower than cable.
-I can download a lot of content (legally) and watch it on the bus.
-Easy to quit my subscription. I don't have to talk to anyone.

Click to expand...

I agree on convenience and price factor but there's far too much segmentation for all the streaming services. Regarding quality it is a total crapshoot and often much worse than cable TV. Amazon is absolutely terrible and Netflix is pretty bad too. Just because stream is 1080p or 4K, it tells little about stream quality. Many streaming services has pretty low video bitrate and now that went down even further. It's like having a nice camera and taking that 20MB picture in lowest jpeg quality, sure it's 20MB but looks like shit. Regarding cable btw, commercials are absolutely terrible. Given the cost of that cable there should be no or minimal ads. If it was OTA broadcasting, then it's understood but when typical basic cable package is like $60 or more, this is absolute bullshit. I just get BD for stuff we like then host on my home server and we still have cheapest FIOS HDTV. They all but force the TV for internet unless you sub to a lowest tier. Then if you get just internet, sometimes it costs same or even more than TV and internet package (not counting set top box fee). I think my FIOS was like $5 less with double play than just internet. I've been on gigabit for a while and it's much more tied up with TV where Verizon often won't even provide high speed tiers to residential if you don't sub to TV. Comcast does the same btw...

I have only streaming services at home - not even a cable attached to the TV other than ethernet. I have recently been watching all of the Marvel content on Netflix for example - might not be your thing, YMMV, etc, but I am enjoying it very much and incredibly surprised at how good the production values are.

If these services can do it for that price, what the hell is going on with the cable companies?

(Note: Here in Germany, I STILL have to pay more than Amazon Prime and Netflix combined for the compulsory broadcast fee for TV and radio, despite the fact I don't use it)

Already plan than.
If after 2 years, Dish ups their rate and won't give me a discount, I'll just drop them and switch to a streaming service or even back to COX if they want me back bad enough.

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As long as you know to stay on top of switching services you are good. I just run into far too many people who don't want to change services, but don't like paying either. Unfortunately the game is, if you want the lower price you must be willing to switch.

As long as you know to stay on top of switching services you are good. I just run into far too many people who don't want to change services, but don't like paying either. Unfortunately the game is, if you want the lower price you must be willing to switch.

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I'd rather not go through the hassle of switching, but when it amounts to over $200 a year I'll start considering it.
Plus, I'm just feed up with the increases every year from Cox.
I've been with them for over 20 years, and my only reward as been higher bills, especially the last several years.
It will feel good to tell them to take the latest price increase and shove it.

I'd rather not go through the hassle of switching, but when it amounts to over $200 a year I'll start considering it.
Plus, I'm just feed up with the increases every year from Cox.
I've been with them for over 20 years, and my only reward as been higher bills, especially the last several years.
It will feel good to tell them to take the latest price increase and shove it.

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I've had people looking at saving $200 a Month and be getting BETTER service/hardware and still refuse to switch. I can't decide if that is just hardcore stupidity or a resistance to change that I cannot comprehend.

I've had people looking at saving $200 a Month and be getting BETTER service/hardware and still refuse to switch. I can't decide if that is just hardcore stupidity or a resistance to change that I cannot comprehend.

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Partial laziness, scared of the unknown, unwillingness to learn something new and inability to embrace change.
Perhaps more.
Sure resistance for whatever reason.

I've had people looking at saving $200 a Month and be getting BETTER service/hardware and still refuse to switch. I can't decide if that is just hardcore stupidity or a resistance to change that I cannot comprehend.

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Scared of having to explain to the wife that she has to learn how to use a new remote and resetup all her shows on the new DVR